The UCF Knights women's soccer program represents the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

(NCAA) Division I. The Knights compete in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. UCF plays home games on its main campus in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

at the

UCF Soccer and Track Stadium The UCF Soccer and Track Complex is a multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose stadium located on the main campus of the University of Central Florida near Orlando, Florida, United States in unincorporated Orange County, Florida, Orange County. The 2 ...

. The Knights are led by head coach and Olympic gold medalist Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak.

History

The Knights soccer program began in 1981 under Jim Rudy, who also started the men's soccer program at UCF in 1975. The Knights went 11–3–0 in their inaugural year, defeating

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

in their first match 20–0. Rudy led the Knights to the

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

in their first year. UCF faced

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in the final AIAW Championship, falling 1–0. The Knights returned to the Finals in 1982, falling again to North Carolina 2–0 in the first NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament. The first two NCAA Tournaments were held at UCF. In 1993, the team joined their first conference, the Trans America Athletic Conference (which became the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001), where they remained until joining

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

in 2005. In 2013, UCF joined the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

. In 30 seasons, the Knights have had a losing record only twice, and have earned a bid to 16 NCAA Tournaments, including 5 straight through 2011. UCF has earned more trips to the NCAA Tournament than any other Florida school. In 2011, the Knights became the first unseeded tournament team to defeat the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

, who have won 20 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships. UCF defeated UNC 5–4 on penalty kicks in the Sweet Sixteen before falling 3–0 to Wake Forest in the Elite Eight.

Stadium

The Knights play their home games at the

, part of Knights Plaza, on the north end of UCF's main campus in Orlando, Florida. The soccer field is made of natural grass and measures x . In 2011, the stadium was heavily renovated, boasting a 2,000-seat capacity with a new 1,475-seat stand, press box, clubhouse, restrooms and new entrance on the west side of the facility. The original 500-seat stand was retained as a visitors' stand.

Coaches

Seasons

Alumni

UCF has produced a number of notable soccer stars. Most notably,

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, soccer player who starred in the FIFA Women's World Cup 1991, 1991 and FIFA Women's World Cup 1999, 1999 Women's World Cup and Footbal ...

, Amy Allmann and Kim Wyant. Akers and Wyant were founding players on the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

from 1985 to 2000. Akers helped them win the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, and the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Her career was so distinguished that

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

named her among only two female players (along with teammate

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, 1972) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player, two-time Women's Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Haile ...

) on the

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list compiled by Brazilian professional footballer Pelé featuring his choices of the "greatest living footballers" at the time of its release. The list was unveiled on 4 March 2004 during a gala ceremony at the Natural Histor ...

list of the greatest living soccer players in 2004. In addition, Aline Reis, an All-American in her freshman year in 2008, was selected to the

Brazil women's national football team The Brazil women's national football team ( Portuguese: ''Seleção Brasileira Feminina de futebol'') represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in all nine ...

for the first time in 2009, playing in a friendly against a local Brazilian team in July.

References

External links

* {{Big 12 Conference women's soccer navbox Soccer clubs in Florida 1981 establishments in Florida